


Away in the stars

by NeverDyingRose



Series: Mass effect [1]
Category: Mass Effect (Comics), Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Alcohol, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Betrayal, Break Up, Cheating, F/F, F/M, Female Relationships, Mass Effect 3, Partner Betrayal, Romance, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-26
Updated: 2018-10-30
Packaged: 2019-06-16 17:32:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15442242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeverDyingRose/pseuds/NeverDyingRose
Summary: Just one of the possibly worse scenario my drama-seeking mind could come up with.In this, Garrus and Shepard are together as teammates, best friends and partners. Everything is going perfect until Shepard has to hand herself into the Alliance and Garrus is left heartbroken and alone with only one person to comfort him. What he thought was a quick fling soon spirals out of control.It's based after the attack on Earth and before meeting with Wrex. Obvious spoiler alert.





	1. Chapter 1

** Chapter 1 **

 

Garrus had never told Shepard this but when he had first met her, he had developed a massive crush on her. It was just a crash before Kaidan had made his feelings for her clear. Garrus was never one for fighting over a woman and hadn't challenged him. But it had been one major major crush. When she had walked past him, his eyes had followed her hips like a lost puppy and he had taken every opportunity to talk to her. He wouldn’t admit it to everyone but when Kaidan had walked away from Shepard, essentially destroying any hope he had of reconciling their relationship, he had been overjoyed. Hell, Shepard was drop dead beautiful, brave, cunning, and smart and a hell of a shot. What **wasn’t** there to have a crush on?

When she had come up to him and suggested with a coy smile that their friendship goes a step further, he had struggled for words. She was completely out of his league. She was a hero, for crying out loud! She was that much of a hero she had even handed herself in after saving the world from the collectors! She was a living, breathing legend and she was his.

So what Garrus was doing, on Shepard’s ship, butt naked and balls deep inside Tali, was a mystery to everyone- especially Garrus.

The quarian was wiggling underneath him, a gasp leaving her mask fogged with every thrust he took inside her. She had been a virgin when they had first got together 7 months ago. It had been a drunken mistake at first and Garrus had sworn up and down it wouldn’t happen again. But then a week later they had met up and got drunk again, both of them missing Shepard too much to bare alone, and they had ended up in bed again. It had become an unspoken agreement between them both. Tali had come round his apartment on the Citadel every week and the sex was good, great even. It wasn’t like it was with Shepard but that was otherworldly. No, it was just good sex between two friends and Garrus had promised it would stop as soon as Shepard was back on the scene.

But it hadn’t.

They both lay in that hazy bliss they always had after they had been together. The small space underneath the engine room was the only spot they could find where they were less likely to be found. It had been a fumble of clothes and tumbling on the bed.Tali wasn’t wearing her mask this time which would normally lead to some joke by Garrus followed by cuddling but this time was different. There was no bliss or resolve- only a nagging pain in his chest.

“I asked Shepard where we stand today. She said she missed me and she still had feelings for me.” He stated without turning towards the woman in his bed. “This is the last time for… this.”

He stood up without another word and started dressing. Tali’s mouth hadn’t yet closed. She was still naked, clinging to a sheet to cover her body, staring at Garrus as he dressed.

“What do you mean this is the last time? Just because Shepard is back, you’re dumped me?” She finally stuttered.

“No, Tali.” He sighed. “This was never a relationship. We were just friends who had sex.”

“It’s more than that and you know it!”

She stood up, wrapped the sheet around her body, and stumbled up to him.

“Garrus, please just stay and talk to me. You can’t just walk out like this! I thought we were together!”

“It’s more than just because she’s back and we’re back on the ship. I shouldn’t have done this.”

“Why?” Tali insisted. “You can’t just sleep with me and then get up and leave! Is it because we’re back on the Normandy? If you’re worried about all the sneaking around, let’s just tell her! She’ll be happy for us Garrus!”

 She reached for his arm but he quickly ripped it away from her. The blood drained from his face and his mantles heaved.

“Shepard will never find out about this. She is my world, do you understand? In this war, I refuse to give up my only chance at happiness and my best friend. It’s over Tali.”

And just like that, Garrus walked away leaving Tali naked and heartbroken.

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

** Chapter 2 **

 

It was supposed to have been a simple mission.

 

_Just go pick up an undercover agent, Hackett said._

_It will be easy, He said._

_You’ll have fun, He said._

 

Shepard could have punched him in the mouth. Said undercover agent had been dead for 4 months and the only thing waiting for her, Garrus and Liara was a couple dozen Cerberus agents. The only thing that made the situation slightly better was knowing the cerberus’ agents’ day was going even worse than hers.

 

She ducked quickly behind a couple stacked up crates before a rain of bullets hit the spot she had been in. She heard scrambling to the side of her and quickly ducked in time to shoot a Cerberus soldier before he had time to charge at her. She smiled and looked over to her teammates. Liara was holding back half a dozen soldiers using only a singularity and Garrus had them cowering as he picked them off with his rifle. A beam of pride made her chest swell. These were the friends who had followed her into hell and back. They had never turned their backs on. Of course, she counted Tali as one of her best friends as well.

 

When the last Cerberus soldier fell, thanks to her rifle, Shepard could have cheered. A smiled beamed on her lips and she nearly leapt up from her cover.

 

“We… are never… taking on a job from Hacket again.” Garrus announced as he greedily sucked in air and rested his hands on his knees. “Next time he calls, someone change the channel.”

 

“It does seem to be a recurrent theme.” Liara noticed.

 

Shepard chuckled and shook his head. “Well, yeah, but he has this look about him when he asks for stuff. It kind of reminds me of my dad. Do you know how hard it is to say no to that?”

 

“Tell me next time he calls. I’ll tell him where to shove his ‘easy’ missions.” Garrus ordered.

 

They were interrupted by a small aircraft dropping on the tarmac. It held the familiar alliance flag colours but there was an additional CS engraving in the middle. Liara didn’t even wait till it landed till she jumped in through the open door. Garrus went in next and help out his hand for Shepard which she happy accepted. As soon as she was on board, Garrus pulled her closer and pressed his lips to hers.

 

“Urgh, guys.” Joker grovelled over the overhead speaker. “I don’t need to hear that. I can’t see but it sounds like you guys are sucking face.”

 

Garrus chuckled and pressed a quick peck to her cheek before sitting next to Liara.

 

“Where were you last night, Garrus?” Liara asked suddenly.

 

The breath caught in his throat. He turned to Liara who simply looked at him innocently.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“I called back to your quarters to give you an update on Palavin but you weren’t there.”

 

“I must have been in the kitchen. All those Turian carvings come out at night.”

 

Liara shook her head. “No, I checked there also.”

 

“Huh. Must have went to the little turian’s room.”

 

“No, the bathrooms were empty. I had GLIP check.”

 

Garrus swallowed uncomfortably. Shepard had started taking notice now, as did Cortez though he dared only take his eyes from the window for a few seconds. He resisted the urge to touch his hands, something he knew Shepard would pick up on immediately.

 

“I erm.. oh, right you must have come by when I couldn’t sleep. I went into the battery and did some calibrations.”

 

Liara kept silent for a pregnant moment. In the silence, Garrus was sure she was going to rat him out. He cursed his own stupidity. Why did he say the battery? That was the first place everyone went to check on him!

 

“Okay.” She said eventually. “I’ll give you that report when we get back, if you pop into my office sometimes?”

 

Garrus released the breath he didn’t realise he was holding. Shepard went back to closing her eyes and Cortex went back to focused on driving. The only one who didn’t go back to normal was Liara.

  

There was only 15 minutes left before the shuttle would be landing smoothly back on the Normandy’s desk and Cortex would be proudly announcing another successful drop. Garrus had hoped he could escape Liara’s pinning glare until then. It was easy when he instead focused on the sleeping beauty sat opposite him. She had kept silent but he could feel her stare on him. Unfortunately, the silence was short-lived.

 

 They were almost home to the Normandy before Liara spoke again.

 

“Come see me in my office when we land.” Liara ordered, narrowing her eyebrows at Garrus.

 

“No problem. Let me just clean up and help Shepard unload the weapons-”

 

“No.” She whispered sharply. “Follow me to my office as soon as we land.”

 

Garrus’ heart thumped straight up into his throat.

  
Stupid, stupid lie.

 

A million thoughts ran through his head- none of them good. None of them ending with him happy. He tried thinking of the best excuse, any excuse, but his mind was blank. He was out of time and, more importantly, lies.

 

He had no choice but to nod and hold onto the seat as the shuttle slowly touched ground. Shepard woke with a tiny smile and stretched out her tired arms. If it was up to Garrus, they would have carried on flying all night just so Shepard could get the sleep she desperately needed. But things weren’t up to him and life wasn't fair.

 

Taking in a deep breath, Garrus stepped out the shuttle.

 

“Guys, we’ve got a situation.”

 

Shepard had barely set foot out of the shuttle before James came running out of the lift waving around a piece of paper.

 

“What’s up Vega?” She asked.

 

She spoke without a hint of tiredness in her voice though it showed in her face.

 

“We got an urgent message from the ambassador. He said there’s a krogan, yeah you heard me right, special force unit threatening to storm the citadel unless they speak to you.”

 

Garrus didn’t know if it was exhaustion or disbelieve caused, but Shepard tipped back her head and burst out laughing Her pale neck was bare and exposed except for the small necklace he had given her. He didn’t miss Vega’s eyes checking out her skin.  

 

“And they said today can’t get any better!” She chuckled as she tucked a loose piece of hair behind her ear. “Alright, let’s see this.”

 

He didn’t feel jealous as he watched his girlfriend walk away with the mountain of a man. Vega and he had long come to an agreement that as long as Garrus was on the scene, the flirting would be kept to the minimum. Sure, he still saw Vega occasionally checking her out, especially when she was bending over to reach something, but he couldn’t blame him for that. He even spotted Cortez looking more than once. Admiration had that affect.

 

“Garrus.” Liara sighed, pulling him out of his daydream.

 

He hadn’t even realised she was waiting in the elevator for him. Silently, he went into the small space besides her and waited for the doors to lock him in.

 

“Liara… about last night… Where I was…” He tried to start.

 

She held up her hand and cut him off. “I checked the battery first, Garrus. Do you think I have never met you before? By the way, the reason why you lose at poker so much is because when you’re lying, your left mantle flinches.”

 

His hand instinctively went to his mantle.  Damn Vega for never telling him he had an obvious sign. No wonder he always wanted to play poker with him.

 

The elevator doors slid open and revealed the last person he wanted to see.

 

Tali hadn’t spoken to him since he had left that night. She had tried to but Garrus had spent every waking opportunity with Shepard. If he hadn’t been with her on missions, he had been in her cabin or in the kitchen cooking with her or even sat reading with her in the skylight room. Tali had planned on confronting him as soon as he was back from Hackett’s mission but she hadn’t expected Liara to be in the lift with him. The asari looked from Garrus to Tali and then back again.

 

“Is everything ok?”

 

“Yes! Of course!” Tali answered quickly. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

 

“…Because you’re blocking the way, Tali.”

 

Tali laughed nervously and quickly sidestepped out the way.

 

“Actually, I was hoping to catch you, Garrus. Do you have a second?”

 

Garrus’ eyes widened. “Liara is just about to debrief me on something to do with Palaven-”

 

“It can wait if you want.”

 

Both Garrus and Tali turned to Liara. Now she, Garrus thought, didn’t have a poker tell. She kept a calm expression and inquisitive eyes as she studied them both like bugs under a microscope. Then, she offered a small smile and went into her office.

 

Garrus should have told Tali no. Nothing good could come from them talking so soon after Tali had announced it was more than sex between them. Hell, if he had to do it in the common room where someone might overhear, so be it. As least then he could have gone crawling back to Shepard with a clean conscious.

 

So how he ended up in the skylight room, the single most private room on the ship, was beyond him.

 

“Garrus,” Tali began from behind her mask. “I understand why you left.”

 

“Do you?”

 

She nodded. “I know what it felt like when Shepard came back to life. It felt like… we were given another chance. It was like a gift from the skies. Losing her, I know you were heartbroken. So was I. It was the same way it felt when she handed herself in and left us alone.

 

“That’s different.” He pointed out.

 

“Yes, because when Shepard handed herself in, that was by choice. She chose to leave you, Garrus. Don’t you see? She left you and when it pleased her, she called you back and you went running!”

 

That was enough. Garrus turned away and stormed up the door but Tali grabbed him before he could make it.

 

“I would never do that! Please, Garrus! I love you!”

 

If time could ever truly stand still, it would have been in that moment.

 

Garrus froze, paralysed to the spot.

 

Whatever result he could had imagined in his wildest imagine resulting from his mistake, it wasn’t this. He had to fix it and quick. Resisting the urge to shake her, Garrus wrapped his arms around Tali and pulled her into a hug.

 

When he released her, her mask was foggy and she started to sob.

 

“I’m sorry, Tali. I never thought…. I didn’t think it would go this far. It was supposed to be just something short and to pass the time between friends. You’re one of my best friends and I don’t want to lose you but what’s between Shepard and me is different. While she’ll still have me, I won’t leave her side.”

 

“But I love you!” She sniffled.

 

“And I love her.”

 

He gave her a friendly squeeze of the shoulder and turned the door handle. This time Tali didn’t stop him.


	3. Chapter 3

_Romance soon blossomed even amongst the pressures and hardships of the Alliance! Some would say it was doomed from the beginning but that did not stop the two lovers! Soon, they eloped and gave birth to a beautiful bouncy baby girl._

_They named this girl Louisa Shepard!_

_And so- **a hero was born!**_

Tali slouched in the cushions of the sofa, slurping alcohol ice cream through a straw, eyes glued to the plasma TV. The rise of the Shepard was raised 10/10 on TVA and even featured a life interview with her mother, Hannah Shepard, a hero in her own right. Tali had been midway through a comedy about two stepbrothers forced to get along when the TV had come up with an alert announcing the film was on. She didn’t know why she clicked over but she did. And now she was listening to an excited presenter telling her how Shepard had always been destined for greatness.

As much as it pained her to admit, she had to agree. Looking at the picture the movie had found of a young Shepard, she had always been uniquely beautiful. With soft purple eyes and rosy cheeks, her smile had a way of making everyone else smile as well. Her red hair was natural it turned out and so was her amazing figure. Hell, even her mother admitted she had no idea where she got her looks from. As if that wasn’t even, she had graduated first in her class in every subject besides science (apparently she was useless when it came to chemistry) and had honours from enrolling in the N7 training programme. Admiral Anderson himself had backed her nomination into the Spectre programme. Yet, the presenter said with a slightly more serious tone, her personal life was somewhat a mystery. There was never any known relationships, no friendships to speak off and her few moments on shore leave was mainly spent in isolation.

Some mystery.

She wanted to tell the presenter how the reason there was no friendships was because they were all sworn to confidentiality. They were all soldiers- Commander Shepard didn’t have time for citizens in her life. And the reason there was no ‘relationships’ was because her ex had dumped her like garbage and her current boyfriend had spent most of their relationship sleeping with someone else

But the presenter had nothing but praise for Shepard and her fucking legacy.

Tali threw the remote at the TV and screamed into her straw.

**The rise of Shepard.**

What a stupid fucking name for a stupid fucking movie.

She was just a soldier, like Tali! What made her so special she deserved movies made after her?

What made her so special that Garrus would choose her?

Nothing.

Dropped her drink, Tali stood up uncertainly. She had meant to do it with power but that was before 6 ice cream surprises. She wobbled over to the door and tapped into the code. When that didn’t work, she tried hitting it instead.

“Stupid mother-"

Suddenly the doors flew open and Tali went straight through them. She screwed her eyes closed; expecting her helmet to smash into the room, but the crack never came. Instead she landed in two warm arms.  

“Woah there!” Vega exclaimed as he struggled to help Tali up. “Normally girls give me a heads up before they fall in my arms like that.”

She chuckled and wobbled on her feet. The sudden drop had made her head spin something fierce and she couldn’t even pinpoint where Vega was.

“Vega! Do you want to know a secret?” She said, her sentence broken up by hiccups.

He tucked his arm around her waist and helped her stand a light more steady. She knew it was only because he was worried about her falling but still the contact made her shiver.

"Sure. You can tell me while I walk you back to the bunks."

"Why?" She moaned. "Shepard has her own room! So does Liara! Why don't I?"

"cause there is no God and I dont make the rules." He chuckled.

She hiccupped and threw her arm around her broad shoulders.

“You have a crush on her as well, don’t you?” Tali sighed. “ _Everyone_  has a crush on Shepard.”

“I don’t know about that. Joker seems to keep it to the robots.”

She crackled behind her mask and shook her head, making the entire room spin. She didn’t remember Vega leading her to the bedroom and hadn’t realised she was on her bed till she landed on the soft blanket. Sighing, Tali wrapped herself into the blanket.

“Do you want to know a secret?” She slurred with a lazy smile.

“Sure, amigo. What’s the big secret?”

She tried to lean up but fell back on the pillow chuckled. The others sleeping around her didn’t seem to notice but Vega leaned closer anyway. She cleared her throat and whispered into James’ ear:

“Garrus and I have been sleeping together for 3 months.”

 

Without another word, she fell back on the pillow, dead to the world.

 


End file.
